An Iranian with a scholarship to study nano-engineering could lose his place at Canterbury University because of Immigration Service delays.

The professor who granted him the PhD scholarship, which covers tuition fees and a small stipend, says the delay is threatening a research deal with AgResearch and allowing competitors to get the edge in the specialised field of cloning.

Reza Sabsevari and wife Mahnam Saeednia applied in February last year to come to New Zealand on student and visitor visas. They were told the process normally took one to four months, but nearly a year later they are still waiting.

Immigration New Zealand have told him they are waiting on "verification checks" before they can approve his visa, but will not elaborate on what this means.

Mr Sabsevari's offer to study "micro-robotic assisted cloning" expired in December but the university agreed to extend it until February 1 this year.

Wenhui Wang, a lecturer at Canterbury who selected Mr Sabsevari for the research, is frustrated by the delay. He was relying on having Mr Sabsevari's assistance in his own research into nano-engineering.

AgResearch agreed to collaborate on a research project more than a year ago, but has been stalled by the delay. "Because Reza is not here we cannot begin the project, we are wasting time and it's putting us in a worse position. Our competitors are getting ahead and we cannot say we are leaders in the field."

Dr Wang said he selected Mr Sabsevari especially for the project because of his academic background, but he could not wait for ever.

"I can wait two, maybe three months ... but I think I am having to find a plan B."

Since he chose Mr Sabsevari to be his first PhD student, he has taken on several more from other countries. Students from Germany and Malaysia faced no delays. A third student from India took six months to get through the process.

Mr Sabsevari's cousin, Aida Tavasolli, has lived in Wellington for 11 years.

She and husband Don Stokes have been doing what they can to help with the visa process, but say it has been hard to get information from Immigration. If Mr Sabsevari does not get his visa approved before his study offer expires, he may not be able to get one at all.

"You can't get a student visa without an offer of place. The university's already extended it once, we don't know if they'll be able to do it again," Mr Stokes said.
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Mr Sabsevari's life in Iran is on hold as well. He lectures at one of Iran's biggest universities, but has been unable to make any teaching commitments since he decided to come to New Zealand.

"He had been hoping to take on a tutoring job but because he's expecting to leave at any time, he can't do anything else," Mr Stokes said.

He had turned down a PhD placement in Iran in favour of Dr Wang's.

An Immigration spokeswoman said 90 per cent of student applications were decided within 60 days of application and 93 per cent of student applications were approved overall.

(Source Dominion Post - Stacey Wood)